Truth is a description of reality even if that reality cannot be observed. There is a lot of stuff in the universe, right now maybe a star is going supernova. Will any living being in the universe ever observe it? If not, it still happened. Yeah kind of like the tree in the forest that fell but no one heard it. But truth should also have context, like why did the tree fall? when did the tree fall? what kind of tree was it? what did it destroy when it landed? We might have not observed the tree falling but there's a story to tell from information we gather to give us an idea of the truth of the event.

The only actual truth that exists is personal truth. That being those truths that one accepts for themselves. All other truths in the universe are much the same as Schrödinger's cat. They are both true and false at the same time until you decide for yourself what form they take. You can tell someone that the sky is brown, and if they accept that as truth then no matter how many people believe to the contrary that it isn't brown, it will always be brown to the one person who accepts it to be true. Perception of one's universe determines truth, simply because more than one person agrees with you does not in any way make it a universe truth for all, it simply means there are a lot of people in the universe that independently accept it as truth.

Example, until a few hundred years ago, the world was flat. It was an immutable truth. It was a concept that was accepted by the entire 'civilized' world. Did that make it true? No. We now agree with certainty that is was false. That still doesn't negate all the opinions to the contrary, since they still believed it even though it was nonsense.

The only actual truth that exists is personal truth. That being those truths that one accepts for themselves. All other truths in the universe are much the same as Schrödinger's cat. They are both true and false at the same time until you decide for yourself what form they take. You can tell someone that the sky is brown, and if they accept that as truth then no matter how many people believe to the contrary that it isn't brown, it will always be brown to the one person who accepts it to be true. Perception of one's universe determines truth, simply because more than one person agrees with you does not in any way make it a universe truth for all, it simply means there are a lot of people in the universe that independently accept it as truth.

Example, until a few hundred years ago, the world was flat. It was an immutable truth. It was a concept that was accepted by the entire 'civilized' world. Did that make it true? No. We now agree with certainty that is was false. That still doesn't negate all the opinions to the contrary, since they still believed it even though it was nonsense.

I think there should be another word for this kind of truth, as truth exclusively should reflect reality regardless of how many people are aware of that reality. Truth can be things never observed by any living thing in the universe. Something that is true to the entire population of humanity but is inaccurate to reality is not truth. What makes humans so important that in order for something to be true, how it's perceived by humans as reality is what makes it true? Animals can see, hear, smell, sense things that humans can't. For example dogs can hear very high pitched noises that humans can't hear. What is the truth? That noise does not exist or does it? The truth is those noises have always existed, even before we came up with the technology to detect them ourselves or realized other animals were hearing things we couldn't.

JustineKo2wrote:
I think there should be another word for this kind of truth, as truth exclusively should reflect reality regardless of how many people are aware of that reality. Truth can be things never observed by any living thing in the universe. Something that is true to the entire population of humanity but is inaccurate to reality is not truth. What makes humans so important that in order for something to be true, how it's perceived by humans as reality is what makes it true? Animals can see, hear, smell, sense things that humans can't. For example dogs can hear very high pitched noises that humans can't hear. What is the truth? That noise does not exist or does it? The truth is those noises have always existed, even before we came up with the technology to detect them ourselves or realized other animals were hearing things we couldn't.

The inherent issue with 'truth' as a concept is that people must accept it. Regardless of the evidence, there are plenty of people that choose to ignore the information set before them because they hold some other contrary belief to be 'true'. That is why I make the case that the only real truth is personal truth. Each person has the ability, and exercises it on a daily basis, to accept or deny those things that occur around them at will. It is up to the individual to accept that the sky is blue, the sun is the center of the solar system, and that the Universe works in some specific set of patterns and with any given purpose.

Information that is quantifiable and measurable and discernible is not automatically true. Any experiment, any measurement, any 'fact' can be denied at any given moment simply because someone doesn't want it to be true. The ability for a person to formulate individual truths rather than being forced to accept universal truths when they are discovered makes it impossible to enforce truth as a constant force. It exerts no influence on anyone who decides not to accept it. Because of this, truth is merely in the eyes of those who wish to look upon it as such, and not a solid, concrete, universal fact.

For some people, the ultimate "truth" (not just "truth," but THE ultimate truth) is a piece of knowledge that, once discovered or comprehended, will explain "the meaning of life" and all the big questions that philosophers have pondered over for eons. It's that piece of knowledge that makes you say, "Eureka!"

As for what jonileth said, I agree, if we define truth as an acquired knowledge of some sort.